The customer ICA (from BRK3141) said "We did not migrate any user, all our users choose to move".

Among the first words we learn are "no" and "why" - that is why we have the concept of "shadow IT" in larger organizations today. No user will go get their own system for email, but for collaboration there are many tools out there making "shadow IT" grow bigger and bigger. The "deploy it and they will come approach" will not work - look at Access, many people have Access deployed - few use it.

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." - Classic quote that is so true.

Change is not a one-size-fits-all every organization are made up of innovators, laggards and everyone in between. In a general organization there are about 25% early adopters and 25% laggards.

A "pilot" is not only to test the application, also the training, help desk, etc, must be tested.

Poll: How long time does it take a person to change behavior and create a new habit?Studies used to say 21 days for a small change, but now we are estimating more like 2 months for a small change and 6-12 months for something major. I.e. "deploy it and they will come" will not work.

Be mindful about implementing too much change at once. People react to change differently. We all listen, learn and retain information differently.

Never tell users

"We are moving to Teams because it will save us x amount of money" (You are taking away tools I use?)

"We are implementing this to improve your productivity" (I already work 12-hours a day, and it is not enough?)

Microsoft internally will migrate 225,000 users by year end, no more Skype for business for them.

The champions were found on Yammer (answering questions and helping people) in pilot groups and by recommendations by other users.

The adoption program had four pillars.

The Champions program had to be global and make Champions visible to the end users. Moreover, Champions had to be asked to do something (Gives) and to get some value for themselves (Gets.) A lot of Teamwork toolkit digital assets was created in this program and that is now available externally to all Microsoft Teams users.

All Champions added a special symbol to their profile picture to indicated that they are in the Champion program and to start conversations.

Did it work?Yes, now over 55% of all internal chats are in Teams, some 5 months after start (even though everyone can still choose what to use at this time), 17% of all meetings are held in Teams and 99% of people keep using Teams every month. Next thing coming is gamification - let's make it even more fun to use Teams!

Do not compare apples to pears by just comparing Skype for business with Teams. If were to just take all the features and move them from point A to B what would we have gained? Teams is much more than Skype for business.

In an environment with both Skype for business and Teams both clients will now be displaying coachmarks and icons to keep users informed about which client the other party is using. (Coachmarks are the little texts with an arrow pointing to some detail in the GUI to explain it.)

Teams is more than a technical migration

Before a migration make sure your users get to see Teams in action, use Teams and show others why to use Teams. It more successful to use "the carrot" over "the stick." Attach your Teams project to broader plans around digital transformation. Are parts of the business currently in digital transformation projects? Are groups moving offices? Revitalizing work spaces? Are groups changing how they do work?

Use product champions - why is this so important for Teams? Because it is a collaboration product - you do not use Teams alone as you could use Outlook, Visio or Solitaire. You get the benefit of Teams by working with others.

The customer ICA - the largest foodstore chain in Sweden where I am a customer - told about their journey to Microsoft Teams. ICA found themselves in a situation where their market was changing (to online), they switched offices and felt a need for better collaboration tools. Also, they went through a cultural change redrawing the entire organization scheme. Now the organizational chart looks more like a molecule with informal connections rather than a pyramid with formal manager / directs relationships.

A democratic peer-to-peer organization

In the Swedish society everyone walks around with a smartphone - full of processing power and apps much better than the ones used in a normal enterprise. We have all become digital producers thanks to Facebook and Instagram. This puts new demands on a hiring organization.

We're all digital producers

A no-email challenge was used at ICA - stop using email for 2 weeks (could you do it?), but no one were forced to use Teams. Teams communication is more informal than emails, and this is really the way the new generations communicate with each other. ICA used big room sessions, smaller sessions and even drop-by-during-lunch sessions to help the users with Teams. Some users were die-hard Slack fans, but after the pilot even some of them have been convinced to stop using Slack and even stop using Outlook.

QuestionsIs there an end-of-life date communicated for Skype for business Online?
No, but Microsoft is currently doing all they can to make everyone want to be in Teams rather than in Skype for business. (Carrot, not Stick.)

How about federation in Teams?
Today it depends on the underlying Skype for business infrastructure, and the messages exchanged are called interoperability messages. Eventually there will be Peer-to-peer Teams to Teams federation. What kind of support calls did ICA get during the rollout?
How do I create a group? What's happening in Teams? My meeting did start? My network is bad. Gradually users started helping each other with questions and answers right in Teams. Many "how do I..." questions get answered this way.

Scenario: Full Side by Side ApproachRun both clients at the same time and the user will have a choice for each interaction. Have both meeting "buttons" in Outlook. (Can be confusing for users.)

Scenario: Teams-Only ExperienceThe user will only run the Teams client, but a "disabled" Skype for business client will remain installed in order to join Skype for business meetings hosted at other organizations. Incoming chat messages will arrive in Teams.

Scenario: Meetings FirstFor on on-prem & hybrid organizations, that will move to Meetings First before going Teams Only. Meetings first is a configuration that allows organizations to use Skype for business for instant messaging and calling and Microsoft Teams for meetings. The user will run both clients, but with no overlap in functionality. The chat and calling tabs will be removed in Teams and even the "Teams and channels" tab can be removed. Users will then have all their meetings in Teams with all the benefits of the global infrastructure, recording, transcription, etc. The on-premises versions supported are Lync Server 2013, Skype for business 2015 or 2019. (Please see BRK3124 for more information.)

Interoperability: Teams uses https and Skype for business SIP. In the cloud there is a gateway that lets them communicate. However, this only works for Skype for business Online users and even the Teams users will get a Skype for business Online shadow account. The Skype for business user must be homed online and this can of course be accomplished with a hybrid configuration. Currently this interoperability is one-to-one only. In the future this will change so that a meeting will start and both users will automatically be added to the meeting giving them richer collaboration options. In Skype for business a yellow banner will show up indicating that this is conversation over the SfB - Teams gateway. (There is also an update post Ignite about presence in coexistence modes found here: Presence now respects a user's coexistence mode.)

It is possible to upgrade without overlapping functionality.

Interoperability and co-existence are managed in the Teams Admin center of via PowerShell. Some aspects of some modes are not yet fully implemented but should come in preview later this year.

A hybrid configuration is a requirement to upgrade Skype for business users to Teams. Users can start from scratch in Teams, but hybrid is required to move a SfB user to Teams. With Skype for business Server 2019 and/or CU8 for Skype for business Server 2015 there is a new –MoveToTeams switch in the Move-CsUser command.

An upgrade to teams can be "IT Admin-driven" or "Microsoft-driven automated" and the big difference is really how the migration is initiated.

Questions

Will these upgrade scenarios change in the future? (Will something "better" come?)No, this is it. Teams will not become a Skype client and Skype will not become a Teams client.Will there be upgrade from Skype for business on-prem to Skype for business Multi-Tenant?No, nothing have been added/changed in the Skype for business Multi-Tenant version lately.

Is there a minimum on-prem server version of the hybrid to get Interoperability?Yes, Lync 2013 (without Enterprise Voice) and Skype for business 2015 (with Enterprise Voice)

Will Skype for business Online meetings (recurring or not) be migrated to Teams?No, only on-prem meetings will be migrated.

Is there a way to trigger the contact import manually? Not right now but this could change in the future.

Is there an end-of-life date communicated for Skype for business Online?No.

What will happen to incoming PSTN calls in Islands mode?Depends on how the connection to PSTN is made. With Calling plans the call would go to Skype for business, with direct routing it would go to Teams (most likely.)

Monday, November 5, 2018

Teams was built from the scratch for the cloud. It is the first Microsoft communications product made for the cloud. The others - OCS, Lync, Skype for business were adapted for the cloud.

The Microsoft Global Network have a global footprint and is peering with some 2700 Internet Service Providers. 100000 miles of fiber connects over 130 locations. The Microsoft Global Network is "One of the top two networks in the world".

Minimize the traffic over the Internet for optimal performance

It is possible to reach the Microsoft Global Network fast from almost anywhere, for example:

In Teams the Regional Hosted Meetings feature is built-in and dynamic.

Long term reference frames and better bandwidth estimation makes Teams video run better than Skype for business video especially during "challenging" network conditions.

The mobile client will automatically turn off video if networks conditions gets to bad and reconnect to an ongoing meeting at temporary network loss. Also, a dial in option is provided if a meeting is disconnected.

The ambient noise reduction can understand and classify when you are speaking or when background noise is heard.

Background blur is a machine learning based feature that has been trained on a lot of data to work well.

The various Teams clients, web, mac, desktop or mobile, are all made to look like each other creating a familiar experience across all end points and devices.

Anonymous meeting join from a web browser without plugin was demonstrated. If a meeting have 4 or more participants anyone joining will be automatically muted to not disturb an ongoing conversation. Also, a "talking-while-muted notification" has been added to Teams.